


hoʻonui i kaʻohana

by Erandri



Series: 365 Days of McDanno [15]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Adoption, Adoption Parties, Established Relationship, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Fluff, M/M, Nahele deserves to be happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-03-01 00:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13283118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erandri/pseuds/Erandri
Summary: Danny wakes to the sound of the vacuum running downstairs and has to stifle his groan into his pillow. He gets out of bed reluctantly, wondering how long Steve’s been awake this time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just really need Steve (and Danny) to adopt Nahele. Give that boy a good home

Danny wakes to the sound of the vacuum running downstairs and has to stifle his groan into his pillow. He gets out of bed reluctantly, wondering how long Steve’s been awake this time and shuffles down the hallway.

“Babe, what are you doing?” he asks when he’s on the bottom step. Steve snaps his head up and Danny takes in the damage. The living room has been rearranged, the hardwood floors look sparkling and Steve is currently vacuuming for the third time in as many days.

“I just-” Steve cuts himself off, looking at the room around him, “It has to be perfect,” he says quietly.

“Babe,” Danny soothes him, unplugging the vacuum and sitting them both down on the couch, “The social worker is not going to care if the couch is by the window or against the wall. What she cares about is if we can provide a good home for Nahele.”

“I know,” Steve sighs, settling further into him, “I just want him to be family.”

“Hey, whether the adoption gets approved or not, Nahele is always going to be a part of our family. Nothing can change that. Now come back to bed, we can sort all this out in the morning,” he grabs Steve by the hand and pulls him up the stairs. He doubts that Steve will get much sleep tonight, knowing that their final home inspection is tomorrow, but it’ll make Danny feel better knowing that he’s in bed next to him and not rearranging the cupboards.

\---

They buy Nahele a suitcase the day before they go to pick him up from the group home. It’s black, with a handle and wheels, but he knows that the most important part is that it matches his and Steve’s. A family set.

They bring it with them for Nahele to fill with all of his things when they pick him up and they don’t mention the way Nahele tears up when he sees it. Danny also doesn’t say anything when he sees the stiffness in Steve's’ shoulders when, even with all of his clothes packed, they carry Nahele’s suitcase out only half full and he knows that despite the clothes they already have in the dresser back home, a shopping trip is in his near future.

He doesn’t mind the thought all that much.

When they get home, Nahele acts like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He stands until they tell him to sit, asks if he’s allowed before using anything, and acts like he’s visiting rather than coming home. They all know that it’s still a bit of an adjustment, there’s a difference between calling yourself a family and then one day having the paperwork to prove it, and he’s glad they decided not to have a party the first day Nahele came home with them. It’ll be good for him to settle in first before the entire ohana comes over.

While he and Steve cook dinner, they send Nahele upstairs to unpack his things. The pasta isn’t even done cooking yet when he comes back downstairs, holding a blue shirt in his hands.

“You guys got me a shirt?” he asks and now Danny can see that it’s one of the spare Five-Ohana shirts from the Tough Mudder.

“You’re family,” Steve says like it’s completely obvious, and Nahele breaks. Steve rushes to him immediately and pulls Nahele into his arms, crushing the t-shirt in between them, and Danny can faintly hear Nahele saying _thank you_.

Later, when they’re eating overcooked spaghetti and Nahele is laughing about something Steve said, he knows that everything is going to be alright. It’s going to take some adjusting, and it won’t always be easy, but they’ll get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://erandri.tumblr.com/)!


	2. Chapter 2

They’ve had the date circled on the calendar for weeks, he’s set up a countdown clock on his computer and, after a nightmare that they forgot about the whole day, there are now several obnoxious reminders set on his and Danny’s phones. Danny had complained about that one but never figured out how to turn them off, so they stayed. Now, he’s staring at the NAHELE scribbled under today’s date in bright red pen and waiting for the sounds of his oldest kid coming home.

Like clockwork, Nahele pulls into the driveway at half past and Steve hears him drop his backpack next to Graces and Charlies. He leaves his room when he hears Nahele call out  _ Dad? _ still getting a little thrill every time one of the kids call him that.

“Hey, where is everyone?” Nahele says as soon as he sees him coming down the stairs, “And why are you so dressed up?”

Instead of answering, he grabs a protesting Nahele by the shoulders and steers him upstairs to his bedroom. “Change into this,” he says, handing over some dressier clothes and shoving him into the bathroom.

\---

Nahele keeps looking at him, like maybe if he stares long enough he’ll crack. They’ve been driving around the island for an hour and he can feel Nahele getting more and more confused with each passing second but after the first round of twenty questions going unanswered, he’s mostly kept his thoughts to himself. Finally, he gets the text from Danny saying that everything is set up and he turns the truck back towards the house.

“Steve, you lolo? You tell me to change into these fancy clothes then we drive around the island for an hour just to come back home?” Nahele says, sounding so much like Danny that he can’t help but smile.

“Just come on, I’ll explain soon,” he says, throwing an arm around Nahele’s shoulders and leading him to the backyard. He pushes Nahele through the gate ahead of him and almost trips over him when Nahele stops dead in his tracks. He rights himself just as everyone yells surprise and beams down at Nahele, waiting for his reaction.

“Dad? What is-”

“One year ago today you came home with Danny and I. We had been wondering how to celebrate it and then Grace read about these Gotcha parties that people did for their adopted kids and we thought that that sounded perfect,” he explains.

Nahele almost knocks him off of his feet when he turns around and hugs him, “I love it, thank you.”

He wraps his arms tight around his son, kissing the top of his head and whispering, “Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you too, dad,” he says, wiping the tears off of his face and leaving to go give Danny the same treatment. He watches as Danny hugs him tight, whispering something into Nahele’s ear that makes him start crying again. Danny wipes the tears away before turning Nahele around and nudging him towards where the rest of the ohana is waiting to see him.

“We did good babe,” Danny says, coming to stand next to him. He pulls Danny close, watching as Charlie wraps himself around Nahele’s legs yelling  _ gotcha, gotcha, gotcha _ , and agrees, “Yeah, we did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://erandri.tumblr.com/)!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://erandri.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
